We play under DOS on a modern computer. Covox + Sneskey
Now, in order to play good old shooters under DOS, nothing special is needed, the dosbox emulator copes well with almost all games. Who needs a sense of authenticity find old computers up to Pentium3, the main thing here is the ISA slot which makes it possible to connect an audio card normally. The leaders here are of course the sound blaster AWE 32/64. But there is still an option to play on a modern computer, in which not only there is no ISA, but rather PCI too. We’ll consider it now.
First of all, install DOS 6.22 on a usb flash drive. I use the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool for this. We select a USB flash drive and voila when downloading, we will play most of the games without problems. But one big thing
BUT, no sound. More precisely, the maximum with a speaker, which in a modern PC is just a piezo. We change it to a normal speaker from the old computer, the sound will certainly be better, but still you can achieve more.
If you still have an LPT port on the motherboard, or at least a connector for connecting a bracket with this port, then remember how in the late 80s and early 90s enthusiasts soldered simple 8-bit DACs on resistors using the R-2R circuit, whose name was COVOX .
I used 10 and 20 kOhm respectively. But I'm not a big fan of playing the keyboard and for almost all games I prefer a joystick. I recalled the driver for DOS SnesKey, which allows you to connect console joysticks. Having looked at all the pinouts, I noticed that if you do not use 2,3,4 pins for power supply from the Segov joystick, but output + 5V via USB, then it is possible to assemble a cowox with a port for the joystick.
Take a non-working VOIP gateway, use it as a case for our product, insert a DB-9M connector, a 3.5 ”jack, an LPT plug, a USB cable and we solder this whole thing in a circuit with resistors.
The COVOX + SnesKey bundle worked without problems, the Chinese joystick from the shogi did not require additional power at all, and I almost cut off the USB cord, but when I connected my own 3-button joystick, I was glad that I did not. This joystick can also be used on Windows with the PPjoy 0.8.4.5 driver. For example, games purchased from STEAM from SEGA MegaDrive will be cut much nicer. Some old games support covox natively. For others, third-party drivers are needed, for example, COVOX-PACK 1.05 from Roman Trunov. For third ones, the Virtual Sound Blaster 2.02 emulator is suitable (by the way, it can also be used with a speaker, but the quality will be much worse).
Here is a short list of what started in DOS with sound:
- Another world
- Alone in the dark
- Prince of persia
- Wolfenstein 3d
- Spear of destiny
- Corridor7
- Rampart
- DOOM 2D
- Thexder2
- Almost all Sierra quests The
list is not impressive, but there are interesting games in it. You can also recall Disney Sound Source - actually a modified COVOX and expand this list a lot, but getting it will be problematic.
And those lucky ones who are fortunate enough to have a PCI slot on their computer should buy a sound card that supports sound blaster emulation. For example, I used the Aureal Vortex 2 SQ2500, which emulates an 8-bit SB pro. Find a sound card that supports SB 16, it will be even better.
Boring hours of oldgaming;)
First of all, install DOS 6.22 on a usb flash drive. I use the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool for this. We select a USB flash drive and voila when downloading, we will play most of the games without problems. But one big thing
BUT, no sound. More precisely, the maximum with a speaker, which in a modern PC is just a piezo. We change it to a normal speaker from the old computer, the sound will certainly be better, but still you can achieve more.
If you still have an LPT port on the motherboard, or at least a connector for connecting a bracket with this port, then remember how in the late 80s and early 90s enthusiasts soldered simple 8-bit DACs on resistors using the R-2R circuit, whose name was COVOX .
I used 10 and 20 kOhm respectively. But I'm not a big fan of playing the keyboard and for almost all games I prefer a joystick. I recalled the driver for DOS SnesKey, which allows you to connect console joysticks. Having looked at all the pinouts, I noticed that if you do not use 2,3,4 pins for power supply from the Segov joystick, but output + 5V via USB, then it is possible to assemble a cowox with a port for the joystick.
Take a non-working VOIP gateway, use it as a case for our product, insert a DB-9M connector, a 3.5 ”jack, an LPT plug, a USB cable and we solder this whole thing in a circuit with resistors.
The COVOX + SnesKey bundle worked without problems, the Chinese joystick from the shogi did not require additional power at all, and I almost cut off the USB cord, but when I connected my own 3-button joystick, I was glad that I did not. This joystick can also be used on Windows with the PPjoy 0.8.4.5 driver. For example, games purchased from STEAM from SEGA MegaDrive will be cut much nicer. Some old games support covox natively. For others, third-party drivers are needed, for example, COVOX-PACK 1.05 from Roman Trunov. For third ones, the Virtual Sound Blaster 2.02 emulator is suitable (by the way, it can also be used with a speaker, but the quality will be much worse).
Here is a short list of what started in DOS with sound:
- Another world
- Alone in the dark
- Prince of persia
- Wolfenstein 3d
- Spear of destiny
- Corridor7
- Rampart
- DOOM 2D
- Thexder2
- Almost all Sierra quests The
list is not impressive, but there are interesting games in it. You can also recall Disney Sound Source - actually a modified COVOX and expand this list a lot, but getting it will be problematic.
And those lucky ones who are fortunate enough to have a PCI slot on their computer should buy a sound card that supports sound blaster emulation. For example, I used the Aureal Vortex 2 SQ2500, which emulates an 8-bit SB pro. Find a sound card that supports SB 16, it will be even better.
Boring hours of oldgaming;)